Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you canโt stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.
Sometimes NBA teams play poorly for much of a game and still win; other times it’s the exact opposite. The Celtics’ second game against the Thunder was the latter. It was a close game almost all the way, and Boston played well more than they played poorlyโbut so did Oklahoma City. Mistakes in the fourth quarter by players and coaching alike, particularly in the last two minutes, ultimately led to the Celtics fall, 105-104.
Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart all had strong two-way performances for the majority of the game, with respective lines of 24-5-4-1-2, 19-5-3-2-1 and 19-10-4. Kemba Walker wasn’t so lucky, with 14-6-5-2 on 28.6% shooting and the fatal turnover that cost Boston the game. On OKC’s side, point guards Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder ran the table with 28 and 27 points, respectively.
Throughout the first quarter, the paint was often packed with bodies on both sides of the courtโinevitable when two teams with top-10 defenses are facing off (Boston at no. 4 in DRTG, OKC at no. 10).
๐ JT ๐ pic.twitter.com/K0Kxhh6sFH
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 8, 2020
While Tatum was able to make moves like the sweet finish above, the Cs definitely didn’t have an easy time scoring and neither did the Thunder. The main difference was OKC could spread the scoring around more whereas Tatum and Smart were the Celtics’ primary sources of points.
OKC has gotten hot from the outside. 4-7 from deep already.
25-20 Thunder. Timeout Celtics.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 8, 2020
They traded leads throughout the frame. While the Thunder’s accuracy from deep got them ahead by almost 8, the Celtics scored a flurry of final-minute baskets (a few off of Thunder turnovers) to narrow it toย 29-26 Thunder at the end of one.
Three straight makes for Hayward after he opened up 0/3 from the field.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) March 8, 2020
Great way to start the second!
https://twitter.com/Riffs_Man/status/1236783939026653185?s=20
Lead-trading continued to start Q2, and then Boston went on a two-minute 10-0 run, which included the following bench highlights:
N๐ซPE pic.twitter.com/C5oFnd2svY
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/MuppetMonsters/status/1236785780632125441?s=20
Boston’s defense kept Oklahoma City scoreless for a good 4 minutes or so before Danilo Gallinari got to the line for a technical free throw. But immediately after that the wheels REALLY came off for OKC.
Boston has turned the defense way up here in the second quarter. 16-4 run to take a 15-point lead.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 8, 2020
37 points and counting for Celtics in second quarter. Just a terrific quarter on both ends for this group.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) March 8, 2020
add a Hayward 3. That's 5-5 over a stretch of 2:30.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) March 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/maxacarlin/status/1236789820799811586?s=20
It's raining threes in Boston โ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/zdb0h85p47
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 8, 2020
63-52ย Celtics at halftime.
The Celtics were on the verge of turning this game into a blowout late in the second quarter. Thunder went on a quick 7-0 run and got back in the game. Now it's a 5-point Boston lead. If you've watched the Celtics this year, all of this sounds about right.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 8, 2020
As Keith’s tweet suggests, the second half began much more like the first quarterโan extremely well-matched, tight contest between two strong teams. But while it was a smaller lead than they undoubtedly would’ve liked due to Chris Paul’s floor generalship, the Cs did hold serve through the first half of the third quarter, and we got cool shit like this all the while:
๐จ๐จ๐จ pic.twitter.com/ThP7RUcrcO
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 8, 2020
Marcus Smart never runs out of hustle juice pic.twitter.com/gLkSaFNtnF
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) March 8, 2020
Bad turnover by Marcus Smart there but he really went all out to make up for it and not only get the ball back, but draw a foul
— John Karalis ๐ฌ๐ท๐บ๐ฆ (@John_Karalis) March 8, 2020
Hayward was huge in this quarter:
Hayward has made 9 of his last 14 shots. Game-high 23 points in 29 minutes.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) March 8, 2020
Things got a little haywire in Q3’s last few minutes as OKC paired Dennis Schroder with CP3 for a nimble offensive backcourt capable of making tough shots. The former of those two got the Thunder closer to the Cs in scoring than they’d been all game with a triple to beat the Q3 buzzer.
End of 3Q: Celtics 84, Thunder 83
โ๏ธ Hayward: 23 PTS, 5 REB, 2 BLK
โ๏ธ Tatum: 15 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL
โ๏ธ Smart: 14 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST
โ Paul: 24 PTS, 7 AST, 5 REB
โ Schroder: 20 PTS, 4 AST— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) March 8, 2020
Thunder are without leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but Paul and Schroder are cooking. Now a combined 16 for 28, 46 points.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) March 8, 2020
Former Celtic Abdel Nader tied the game early in the fourth, Schroder put OKC ahead for the first time since Q2, and then the final frame went back to the war-of-attrition that had dominated so much of the game.
Marcus grabs the miss and takes it home for two and one
๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ (๐ฒ @MetroByTMobile ) pic.twitter.com/g4iBAV2Pzj— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 9, 2020
The closeness and intensity of the game let to something of an unfortunate outcome for the final minutes:
Love 6 minutes of both teams being in the bonus
— Jayson al Gaib (@Handsome_Jake_) March 9, 2020
And then we almost had a reaaaallll crisis:
Stevens wins the challenge. Foul ended up going against Nerlens Noel instead.
That would have been Smart's 5th foul. https://t.co/CBgIAgXh2S
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 9, 2020
Awesome pass from Smart to Tatum: pic.twitter.com/FWHvctHC8q
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) March 9, 2020
The final minute was as anxiety-inducing as anything from the movie Uncut Gems, and about as brutal in its ending. A succession of events good (the block, fast break and bucket by Tatum) to bad (Kemba getting his pocket picked by Schroder, who then had an easy layup) sealed Boston’s fate.
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